You can browse through eBay's millions of listings anonymously (and
without registering), but if you want to buy or sell items, you have to register
with the eBay site. Registration involves telling eBay who you are, where you
live, and how to contact you. If you're interested in selling on eBay,
you'll also need to give eBay a valid credit card numberwhich
won't be charged. (At least, not yet!)

Although eBay registration is free, selling an item isn't. You have to
pay eBay a fee for every item you list for sale, and for every item you actually
sell. You don't have to pay eBay when you buy an item; fees are
charged exclusively to sellers.

Read on to learn more about eBay's registration processand its fee
structure!

Everybody Does It: Filling Out eBay's Registration Form

Registration is free, easy, and relatively quick. But before you register,
you need to prepare some key information, as detailed in the following
checklist:

Checklist: Before You Register

Your name

Your street address

Your e-mail address

Your phone number

Your date of birth

Your credit card number (optional if you're only going to be bidding
on items; mandatory if you're going to be selling items on
auction)

NOTE

eBay asks all members to supply a valid physical address and telephone
number. They don't disclose this info to any third parties outside the eBay
site, although they will supply personal data to other eBay users on their
request. (It's how they try to contact deadbeat bidders and sellers.) You
can get more details from eBay's Privacy Policy, found at
pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-priv.html.

NOTE

Your eBay user ID must be at least two characters long, and can contain
letters, numbers, and/or certain symbols. It cannot contain spaces, Web page
URLs, or the following symbols: $, &, <, or >which means you
can't use your e-mail address as your user ID.

NOTE

If you ever move, you'll need to change the address and phone number
information eBay has on file. Just go to the Site Map page, scroll to the My
eBay section, and click the item you want to change: User ID, Password,
Registration Information, E-Mail Address, and so on.

With this information at hand, you register as an eBay user by following
these steps:

From eBay's home page, click the Register Now button.

When the eBay Registration page appears (as shown in Figure
3.1), enter the following information:

First name and last name

Street address (including city, state, Zip code, and country)

Telephone number

E-mail address

Still on the same page, create and enter a user ID into the Create Your
eBay User ID box.

Create and enter a password (at least six characters long, with no spaces)
into the Create Password box.

Select a question from the Secret Question list, and then enter your answer
in the Secret Answer box. (This is used if you ever forget your password.)

Enter your date of birth, and then click the Continue button.

eBay now displays its user agreements. Read these agreements (if you want),
check each of the I Agree boxes, and then click the I Agree to These Terms
button.

eBay now verifies your e-mail address, and sends you a confirmation message.
Click the Web page link in the confirmation e-mail message to continue.

eBay now displays a congratulations page, along with a pop-up window that
asks you to enter more (optional) information about yourself. This information
is used for marketing purposes; you can choose to fill in the blanks, or
close the window and click the Home link to go directly to eBay's home
pageand start buying and selling!